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The Effects of Methane Gases on Foliage & Potted Plants

Methane gas is a compound that forms naturally. For years, scientists thought only decaying plant and animal matter produced methane gas, but a 2007 discovery revealed that living plants also produce methane.

Effects
- Methane gas does not have a deleterious effect on plants, including houseplants, since they produce the gas. Much like carbon dioxide, methane is a natural by-product of a plant's chemistry. It is produced in higher amounts where there is a great deal of water and little air, such as in swamps, but the plants there suffer no ill effects from methane gas.
Problems
- Methane traps heat, leading to the greenhouse effect and global warming, according to scientists Nick Hopwood and Jordan Cohen of the University of Michigan. Methane actually traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide, another common greenhouse gas.
Considerations
- Limiting the amount of methane in the air is an extremely difficult task. For example, rice cultivation is an important aspect of the world economy, but flooded rice paddies filled with bacteria produce large amounts of methane. Some mammals and insects carry bacteria that produce methane; decaying garbage also releases it. Proposals to use methane as an alternative fuel suggest capturing the gas instead of limiting production.

Nature